So it was time to get started on the build which we have split into three phases..... Speakers, Signal, Boot install.

So. "Speakers".

This consists of fitting the HSK 165 XL component set and ML300 mid from the Hertz range into the front of the car, in short.

Some of the goodies:

So we started by stripping down the door cards, one by one ..

In order to fit this bad boy in the door

.. Any particularly eagle eyed may notice that the above is now how the 3 inch Hertz mid usually looks. Indeed it looks a whole lot bigger than 3 inches? Well - we bastardised the stardard (or should I say sub standard) BMW 4 inch driver to make a mount for the ML mid. Why reinvent the wheel eh?

That said. Any audiophile will be in pain at seeing the below:

..BUT NEEDS MUST!

So, that part done:

Ahh. I love OEM+.. Who would ever know the mid had changed!

Next job, the tweets.

We then set the HT 28 tweeter in the BMW individual audio mirror triangles which I picked up from Berry BMW yesterday. Now, the tweeters weren't even NEARLY going to fit in the stock tweeter insert, so we had to get creative again.

After bonding the HT28 units to the triangles, a fair amount of sound deadening was applied all around the speakers to make sure they can only fire out and don't cause any distortion up the B pillar.

These fitted (I don't have a pic, but I'll get one! We moved on to the 6.5" underfoor mids.

First job is to lift the seats

The stock 6.5 underseat can then be removed. For some reason on the LCI cars the speaker is glued into the housing, not screwed like the older ones. But after some persuasion, all of the parts can be separated

Comparing old and new drivers:

Next then, onto fabricating a custom baffle for the drivers to screw into (Hello Andy!)

LUNATIC: You only get one crotch!!! :

And the new mount slotted in (But obviously not yet sealed up. We got the sillicone on her for that!

Tangeantially, I took the opportunity to get a shot of the "gangsta lean" whilst the seats were unscrewed

And lastly for today, some shots of the woofers in place under the seats:

The crossovers are mounted in the doors within the door cars (good side of the weather shield). So it's all sorted. The wiring has been run into the car and for now joined back to the stock wiring: So, before I get amps: I've still got sound in the mean time

What I would say it's immediately obvious that these speakers are going to be very impressive. Time will tell if it beats the 4 6.5 mids I had in the front of the E90 for sheer output volume, but the clarity is very high. I consider the speakers worth the (expensive) outlay I think.

I can't wait to get them amped up. To have a 250w RMS mid only putting out a measly 25 or so off the head unit and still sounding pretty decent? Suffice to say I can't wait to get them amped up, (Worthy of repeating myself too of course).

Necessity. Put the order in for Dynamat Xtreme bulk pack but the guy couldn't get it till next Tuesday. We both had today planned to get started so what the hell. Hear alot of good reviews about it. I'm not totally happy but fingers crossed...

Necessity. Put the order in for Dynamat Xtreme bulk pack but the guy couldn't get it till next Tuesday. We both had today planned to get started so what the hell. Hear alot of good reviews about it. I'm not totally happy but fingers crossed...

I'm sure you'll learn to live with it once everything is installed and I don't think there's a big diff between the two, marginal in fact

The F30 belongs to my mate. I'll get some more pics next time of the F30. It's beautiful in Estoril blue.

We opened the OEM sub enclosure in order to fit the XL woofers in there as the cone is about twice the depth of the enclosure. We cut away the bottom and then sealed it back in place around the floor so it's still a ported unit in the same way as stock. We silliconed the mounting blocks (12mm MDF) into it as well and mounted the driver there.

The stock grille went back in place with about 1mm to spare! We were thinking we might need to space the stock grille back up slightly. And similarly from the bottom of the magnet to the sound deadening on the floor of the car was less than 2mm I guess :-) It was close!!! But it worked well.

The F30 belongs to my mate. I'll get some more pics next time of the F30. It's beautiful in Estoril blue.

F30 is growing on me and especially in Estoril blue.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MEGA

We opened the OEM sub enclosure in order to fit the XL woofers in there as the cone is about twice the depth of the enclosure. We cut away the bottom and then sealed it back in place around the floor so it's still a ported unit in the same way as stock. We silliconed the mounting blocks (12mm MDF) into it as well and mounted the driver there.

Dave, would it be possible to post a pic for this mod?
XL woofers seems deeper and I wonder how was the enclosure sealed from the bottom?

Quote:

Originally Posted by MEGA

One interesting thing, is for some reason underneath the stock underseat woofers is a big rubber bung. Remove that... And you're looking at the floor!

I've heard this is new for the LCIs and never used to be the case.

So obviously my woofer would not be sealed very well with this big hole (About the size of a 2p!)

Dave
Pre-LCI cars have same holes. I wonder why have they left it there?
May be to fit those rubber bungs in those holes so that enclosures do not hit the body.

Just imagine, passing through flooded roads in E9X and you will be destroying your under seat subs.

I've sealed the enclosure using silent coat so nothing will be able to get in, in any case.

Unfortunately I have posted all the pics I have! So don't have one of the underside of the stock enclosure to share now. I got disatracted on the day having a chat and missed a few pics of the completed underseat enclosure

In effect though we have used alot of sillicone to seal the new unit in place!

If we need to get down there to apply any more sound deadening I will make sure to take a pic..